Golden Gate Ferry set for $20 million overhaul

By the fall of 2014, Marin ferry riders will have an almost unrecognizable old boat after it undergoes a $20 million revamp.

The interior and most of the guts of the aging M.V. San Francisco will be stripped and entirely redone over the next year, with only the original hull remaining, according to Golden Gate Ferry plans.

"It will be like a brand new vessel once it's done," said Jim Swindler, head of the Golden Gate Bridge district's ferry division.

On Thursday the bridge district's Building and Operating Committee approved the project, which will be fully paid for with federal funds. The district Board of Directors is expected to give approval to the plan Friday. Marin Group Boat Works of San Diego will do the work, which will take about a year. The district will hire a crew to sail the vessel on the ocean to San Diego.

"This ferry carries a lot of people and bikes, it's what works in Sausalito," said Denis Mulligan, bridge district general manager.

The M.V. San Francisco is a Spaulding class vessel that went into service in the early 1970s as Golden Gate launched its ferry service. It can carry more than 700 passengers. It is used to take passengers from Sausalito to San Francisco and is used out of Larkspur for weekend service and to take baseball fans to AT&T Park. Two other Spaulding boats will take up the slack while the work is being done.

Among the items to be replaced: indoor and outdoor seats, deck covering, carpeting, ceilings, wall paneling, lighting, the public address system, restrooms, refreshment stand, security cameras, paint and windows. All its machinery, with the exception of two generators, also will be replaced. There will be new racks on the lower deck and a new modern lift for people with disabilities.

The bicycle racks will be heavily used on weekends when tourists renting bikes in San Francisco ride over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito, then take the ferry back.

A new vessel would have cost at least $27 million. The existing hull on the San Francisco is stronger than what could be produced today, Swindler said.

"This was built in the 1970s in San Diego and there was a lot of naval work going on and the thickness of materials used were typically more than what was required," he said. "The vessels today use lighter materials."

While the district has updated the main propulsion system on the ferry, there has been little done to upgrade or refurbish the interior and exterior passenger spaces, other than routine maintenance and repairs, officials said.

"It is in pretty bad shape from the interior standpoint," Swindler said.

Board member Jim Eddie was more direct in his comments after he went on a recent tour of the ferry: "It smelled like tobacco and diesel. I couldn't wait to get off."